We all start on a path that we didn't really pick. We accept the answers that we've been taught from our parents, teachers and society.
For me, my default path led me to practicing law--the career my dad loved. I wanted to be a lawyer just like him. Since he loved it, I wanted to love it too.
The default path for each of us ends with an awakening. Something jars us enough to make us realize that the life we've led up to this point, isn't really ours.
For me, it was when I suffered a panic attack six weeks into my law firm job that I spent $300,000 to get. In a moment, I knew that I couldn't be a lawyer for the rest of my life, but I also had no earthly idea what I wanted to do instead of that.
Awakenings come after summit experiences (like winning a hard-fought promotion that you had been fighting for) or valley experiences (like a sudden divorce or loss of a loved one).
Whether it's a summit or a valley, the awakening takes us to the same place. The place where old answers that we used to be so certain of no longer work. Where the activities that used to give us purpose and fulfillment feel like we are wasting our life away.
The most important thing to remember in these moments, is not that our life has gone totally off track, but rather we are FINALLY getting our lives ON TRACK.
We are finally starting on the path that has been waiting for us all along. Not the default path that everyone else feels comfortable with us being on, but our Hero's Path, where we finally confront the questions that we have been avoiding:
Not knowing the answers to those questions opens us up to the mystery and wonder that are required in order for us to find the answer that is uniquely ours.
If you've ever felt like you just aren't sure what the next step is in your life. You're in the right place.
